


Rites

by eloracooper4



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Found Family, Learning New Things About Friends, M/M, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:29:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloracooper4/pseuds/eloracooper4
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Nile sweeps the area for possible supplies.  When she sees Nicky with those who have died, innocent and guilty, she learns more about her friend.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 12
Kudos: 269





	Rites

When Nile was finally able to drop her weapon to her side, she allowed her eyes to see what surrounded her. She could see the whole scene instead of the individual bodies coming towards her with violent intent. What she saw was a massacre. 

Everything had gone the way that it was supposed to. The drop off was at the right place and the right time. Nicky had taken care of the lookouts with ease. Joe and Nile had quietly slipped into the sleazy mansion without detection. Andy found the location of the Diaz family using blueprints that Copley provided and the radio system which was able to identify the voices of Diaz’s seven children and his wife, Lousia. The entire team faced the kidnappers working together like a symphony...but in the end, it didn’t matter. The kidnappers didn’t focus solely on the team. No, they wanted to send a message to Diaz. That was the original intent after all. If you don’t follow the rules handed down by Los Calaveras, then not you, but your family would be punished.

Nile’s soft brown eyes filled with tears as she counted the small bodies on the ground surrounded by small patches of their blood. One. A little girl, her doll just out of her reach. Two. A young man who tried to fight back. To help Andy when she was struggling. Three and Four. Louisa’s body trying to cover that of her youngest, just a toddler. None of them would reawaken. 

The four remaining Diaz children gathered around Andy. She held a teenage girl who was sobbing into her shoulder. Joe picked up a small child and held him to his chest whispering quietly to him in Spanish as he whimpered. 

And Nile just stood and stared into the absent silence. No more blasts of guns or screams. Just sobs and breathing now. And Nile’s heart beat with no sign of slowing down. 

The screech of a walkie talkie interrupted her thoughts. Copley. “Diaz is waiting downstairs...should I tell him?”

Andy’s free arm reached out to her device to respond, “No. I’ve had practice. Before we say anything he should see what family he has left to take care of.” Diaz lost half of his family that day when he could have lost all of them. However… “Joe, help me with the kids. Nile. You’ll have some time to sweep the area. Take what we need. Cover our tracks.”

Despite herself, Nile nodded. She learned in Afghanistan to focus on the families that they were helping. To stare at the smiles of the local children as she offered them candy and to avoid looking at the bodies that they left behind. It was a foregone conclusion in her head that they would simply bring the children to their father and move on. But Andy was right. It was always an agreement in their contracts that they would get the spoils of the skirmish. The leftover weapons, the ammo, even the armor off of the dead if it wasn’t too damaged. They needed it to continue their work. Of helping others. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Andy give Nicky a nod before turning and leading the children down the stairs. 

Nile turned back, swallowing the minimal saliva in her mouth. There were seven kidnappers for her to attend to. Seven family members. Seven men who ripped a family in two in the name of a crime syndicate. She dropped down to the side of the ringleader. Ramone. Her cheeks steamed as she remembered him gunning down Louisa and the baby with a shout. She slipped her fingers into his pocket, ripping out the extra ammo and a series of receipts and papers. Nile pocketed the ammo and tossed the various papers on the ground. 

When she reached around to his other pocket, she heard a series of quiet Italian words. Nicky had spent the past few months teaching her his native language, but she still needed to focus on the words to slowly translate them in her head. 

“May God ease your passage into His holy kingdom. May your ancestors welcome you home. May He hold you at His right hand for an eternal rest of peace and love,” Nile turned to see Nicky kneeling in front of the little girl. His hand was placed gently on the girl’s forehead. Her doll now firmly placed in her arms. Nicky paused only to pull out a small vial of oil which he rubbed along the pad of his thumb and then the forehead of the child. “I bless you, Paloma Rosalina Diaz. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. May the violent end of your life give way to the joy and peace of heaven.” He raised his hand to then sign a cross over her body and paused for a moment, his eyes closed and hands fastened in front of his heart. 

When Nicky stood and walked now to the boy, Nile realized that she was holding her cross necklace in her hand. She knew that Nicky had been religious in his previous life. In fact, Joe mentioned something about Nicky being a “sacertode” of the church. The word “sacartode” was new, but she passed it by like she did so often with words that her new family members used. Words that were of a dead language or niche colloquialisms from a small culture in Belgium. Words that had long gone out of fashion before the death of William Shakespeare were still common in their every day speech. Nile simply couldn’t look up each word. She couldn’t. The first few months with Andy, Nicky, and Joe, she had honestly tried. But what did you do when the word was so obsolete that it wasn’t in the dictionary any longer?

“May God ease your passage into His holy kingdom...” Nicky spoke again over the young man this time. 

Sacertode meant priest didn’t it? Nile took a deep breath. It made sense in a way. Nicky was the thoughtful one. The one who believed in the power of destiny whereas Joe seemed to believe solely in the power of their love. Nicky believed in that and more. “I bless you, Anton Angel Diaz. In the name of the...” He knew their names? How did he know their names? At the beginning of the mission, Copley did give them a file on all of the family members. Nile did have a vague memory of that. Andy had mentioned that Diaz surely must have loved his wife to have that many kids together. Then they moved on with the plan only aware of the number of children. But all of their names were in the file, and Nicky memorized them all.

Nile pushed away her thoughts to return to Ramone’s body and found a blade which she quickly placed in her rucksack. Try not to stare, she thought to herself seeing Nicky, in the corner of her vision, over his wife now. One hand on her forehead, and the other hand on the baby’s. 

After checking Ramone’s boots, Nile moved onto the next man completing a rite of her own. A rite not as pure and loving, but one that needed to be done.

And then, Nile’s heart sunk in her chest.

Nicky was now kneeling over Ramone’s body. “May God ease your passage into His holy kingdom with the forgiveness of your sins. May your ancestors welcome you home. May He hold you at his right hand for an eternal rest of peace-”

“No!” Nile called out surprised at her own voice. She stood over Nicky shaking her head, “No. Not him. Not after what he did. The Diaz family...of course, but not him.”

Nicky’s soft blue eyes met Nile. His lips widened into a sad smile. “Yes, Nile. Each soul deserves a place-”

“He killed a baby, Nicky! A baby! She couldn’t even walk yet..she couldn’t run away from him, and he shot her and killed her while she was in her mother’s arms,” Nile finally felt tears fall down her cheeks. Maybe she had been holding them in since the start only gathering in her eyes, but now, they were flowing freely. “He deserves to rot. Do not pray for him.”

There was no anger in Nicky’s face. No redness in his cheeks to hint at frustration. Instead, he slowly looked down at the papers that Nile pulled from Ramone’s pocket as if he was looking for something. And he turned one such document up for Nile to see. It was a photograph. It was Ramone standing in front of a car proudly with a young woman. Both of their hands were cradling her large belly, and both of their faces were alight with excitement. 

Nile took a step back; a knot forming in her chest.

“I am not discounting his evil acts, Nile. I pray for the forgiveness of his sins, but this flawed man was..a man. Who loved.” Nicky turned the photo to look back at the family that Ramone left behind himself. “We are all capable of great love and great evil. Ramone sinned in a way that God may not pardon. But all of us are deserving of a blessing as we leave this world. To remember the good in us before He decides our eternal home...may I continue their last rites?”

That caught Nile off guard. Could he continue? Despite the soft words, Nile knew that Nicky could kill her in an instant without breaking a sweat. He didn’t need her permission. He could just return to his prayers with or without her approval. And yet, he stood by waiting for Nile’s response. 

“I...I don’t know...if I could ever forgive-”

“It is not your place to forgive.” Nicky added with a relieved sigh, “Or mine. Thankfully, I do not know if I would forgive him either...but it is not our decision to make. Only...to end a life of violence with a wish for peace.”

The knot in Nile’s stomach eased very slightly. But it was enough. “Fine, just...be quick. Andy and Joe will be back soon.”

“Thank you, Nile,” Nicky responded to her in Italian before returning to Ramone. 

Moments later, Nile zipped up her rucksack and stood to see Joe standing by watching Nicky with his hands in his pockets. 

“How’d it go?” Nile asked.

Joe didn’t take his eyes away from his love, but he did manage to say, “As horrible as you would expect, but he was thankful… This was a bad one, Nile.“ It wasn’t a question to her, just a statement of fact. “It will be a long night for all of us.”

Nile turned to see Nicky make his final sign of the cross over the last kidnapper. “Does he always do this?” She asked although she partially knew the answer. This wasn’t their first job together. Nicky hadn’t paused to bless everyone in Merrick’s tower or anything. But, she still needed to know more. Understand. 

Joe shook his head slowly. “No. Only if we have time. And we so rarely do at the end of a job. But if we do...he does what he can.”

“He was a priest before the Crusades wasn’t he? Is that even...I don’t know legal?”

He chuckled gently and then explained, “I believe in his mind, all prayers, whether sanctioned by the Pope or not are worth it. And yes, Nicolo was a priest who left the Holy Order to join a Holy War. To kill the filthy men that dared to live in their Holy Land. He killed innocent people in cold blood. Not all of them were soldiers. Defenseless women, children. Those who deserved to be cleansed from the Holy Land. He did what he believed was right.”

Nile frowned at the harshness of Joe’s words though his face showed no ill will towards his beloved. Granted, she knew about the horrors of the Crusades, but…Nicky? “That doesn’t seem like him. He’s...so very kind.” How could this man who went out of his way to greet those who passed by in their native language kill innocents? How could this person who taught Nile Italian with the utmost patience hurt those who only wanted to live in their homes? People like Joe?

“He’s kinder than this world deserves. The Almighty knows that he is much kinder than I am...more forgiving...Nicky...he got a second chance,” Joe remarked, finally turning to face her. “So few get that second chance. He always needs to honor that possibility of good in everyone. So he can find that possibility within himself.”

With that, Nicky walked towards Joe instinctively as if an invisible string connected them both. His hand reached out for Joe’s shoulder and they leaned into one another. The couple whispered back and forth quietly in Arabic. Whispered words of reassurance and love.

A moment later, Nicky looked to Nile and offered her a soft smile. 

Nile nodded and walked on. Her heart was heavy from the day, but maybe she could try to see the good in even the darkest person. Like Nicky.

**Author's Note:**

> The prayer that Nicky says over the bodies is something that I created as last rites is technically not sanctioned for people who have already died. However, I don’t think that Nicky would leave those behind without saying his own version of a final prayer. And while I know everyone has their own opinions on everyone’s faith in the Old Guard (or lack thereof), watching Nicky in the helicopter made me think that he still held onto some version of faith which was probably inspired by Catholicism and influenced by Islam among other religions. This is just my take. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
